Hell Is Just the Beginning
by DawnieWrites
Summary: ...It's Heaven You May Want to Fear. Faith, Bella, Dawn, Willow, and Xander all get trapped into an alternate universe together. They soon learn it was the PTB's idea and are willing to work together to get out. Problem is, the longer they're there the more their memories fade. T for Language
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! EVERYTHING ELSE BtVS RELATED BELONGS TO JOSS WHEDON AND ANYTHING TWILIGHT RELATED BELONGS TO STEPHANIE MEYER. **

**A/N - Originally posted in September of 2010 when I first started on Twisting the Hellmouth and was just kind of looking through the challenges for fun, and this one kind of screamed at me to be done. So here is the prologue. Enjoy.**

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Faith had been released on parole on good behavior and had gotten permission from her parole officer, Jane, to take a short trip to Sunnydale for a big talk-out session with the 'Scoobies.' At least that had been the plan until Faith saw a giant portal being ripped through the Sunnydale sky.

She checked the calendar; no major holidays, it wasn't May and it wasn't anybody's birthday, but it did happen to be a Tuesday, which could only mean one thing; Dawn was in trouble, again. Faith sighed and increased her speed, sprinting through town to the small clearing just underneath the portal to find Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara gathered around what looked like…a headstone?! She moved closer to find Buffy's name inscribed in the marble and swallowed hard.

There was a scream and Faith turned back to see that Dawn had indeed wandered into the clearing and was being circled by a gang of biker demons. She rolled her eyes and took a step forward just as Willow threw her head back and screamed.  
All of a sudden Dawn was lifted into the air, heading for the portal, and Xander grabbed her hand, trying to keep her near the ground.

"What the hell is Willow doing?!" Faith shouted over the noise of the bikers, running up and wrapping an arm around Xander's waist as she grabbed onto Dawn's other hand.

"Faith?! What are you doing here?" Xander asked surprised.

"Never mind that! Get Willow to stop now!" she screamed as her feet lifted slightly off the ground.

"I don't think I can."

"Well someone better do something, or I'm going to be kicking a whole lot of ass when this is all over!" Suddenly the roaring stopped and Willow lowered her head. She stood, confused as the portal sucked Dawn in, lifting Faith and Xander completely off the ground.

"DAWNIE!" Willow shrieked, grabbing for Xander's ankle.

"Willow no!" Tara called. But it was too late; all four were sucked into the portal and it closed with a loud pop, leaving Anya and Tara stranded in the middle of the forest crawling with demons…

Bella sighed as Edward pulled up to the Cullen's house; she could have sworn she remembered telling Alice not to throw her a party.

"Ready?" Edward asked quietly.

"Do I have much of a choice?" she responded. "If I don't go in, either Alice will come out here and drag me in herself or she'll pout and attempt to ignore me for the rest of the week."

"Good point," Edward chuckled, getting out and walking around the car to open Bella's door for her. She stepped out of her old red truck and let him lead her up the driveway and into the house. They moved into the living room just as Jasper and Alice made their way down the staircase, Alice beaming like a hyperactive two-year-old, Carlisle and Esme close behind with Emmett and a scowling Rosalie close behind.

"Happy Birthday, Bella!" Alice greeted, giving her a hug as Rosalie made a snide remark about putting too much effort into something for a human under her breath. "Okay, since I'm sure you've already eaten; let's skip to the main event, present time!" Emmett was out the door in a second, a bare blur to Bella's eyes as Alice handed her a box that felt far too light; she opened it to discover that it was empty.

"Thanks Alice, you shouldn't have. What is it?"

"Emmett is currently installing the new radio in your car as we speak," the petite vampire explained as Edward handed Bella a small square envelope. She smiled at him and slid her finger under the lip of the envelope, and suddenly all of the vampires sensed a change in the pressure in the room. They turned to stare at a spot directly behind Bella, who remained oblivious as she slid her finger along the edge, cutting the skin in the process. She gasped slightly as one drop of blood hit the carpet.

Bella stuck her finger in her mouth as a loud tearing noise came from behind her, and she turned to find a great gaping, swirling hole in the wall there. She made to take a step backwards, but as soon as her foot lifted off of the ground, she found herself being sucked towards the portal.

"EDWARD!" Her cry was lost in the noise coming from the strange portal and she was sucked inside, the portal closing behind her with a loud pop as all seven Cullen's stared in shock.

"I swear I didn't see that coming!"


	2. The AccidentProne Scooby

**A/N - I would like to thank AvonGoddess for her input on the funny in this story and for her help in the prologue with the Twilight, considering it's not my favorite thing in the world and I do try to ignore it half the time. So here is Chapter 1, in which everyone is mega-confused. So read and enjoy and Reviews are more than welcome!**

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Faith opened her eyes and was immediately hit with a wave of déjà vu all over again. She was lying in a bed, covered by a thick dark purple comforter and she was obviously not alone. She turned her head to find Dawn lying next to her and opened her mouth to curse in surprise, but instead found herself surprised by the words that came out instead.

"Hey Dawnie, have another nightmare?" she whispered. Dawn nodded, her eyes still closed. "What was it this time?"

"Same as before Fay; it was daddy, being attacked." Dawn whispered, still half-asleep; her eyes opened abruptly and she sat up. "Did I just call you Fay?!" she almost screamed. "And why do I think you're my sister? Where the bloody hell is Buffy?"

"I think you spent too much time around Spike, lil sis." Faith commented, sitting up and throwing the covers off so she could get out of the bed. "So why do I remember our parents dying, getting creeped out by an extremely vague watcher, Xander and Willow being _my_ best friends, and us having another sister?" Dawn whipped her head around to look at her.

"You too?" she asked. "For some reason I think my name is Dawn Joyce Lehane, that you carried me all the way to the hospital when I was ten and fell out of a tree and broke my arm, that my other sister is just as accident prone as I am, and that I had a boyfriend who tried to use me to open a portal to another dimension last Tuesday."

"Your fault for sneaking out lil sis," Faith laughed as Dawn climbed out of the bed and led the way out of the bedroom and into the hallway just as the door across from theirs opened to reveal a girl with brown hair and brown eyes staring at them.

"Morning B," Faith called, "Sleep alright?"

"Considering you didn't go out patrolling last night, yea." All three girls immediately froze. "What just happened?" the girl asked. "Why did you call me B and why do I apparently think you two are related to me and I'm hopelessly in love with the  
star football player? And what's a slayer?"

"First off, I'm Faith, this is Dawn, and you would be…?"

"Isabella Marie Lehane," Bella answered immediately, the name spilling out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"Next question: WHY THE HELL IS IT MY LAST NAME?!" Faith thundered.

"Don't blame me!" Dawn shouted. "Apparently I'm still in love with Xander, even though he's constantly following Bella around like a lost puppy."

"He what?!" Bella asked.

"And why are you wearing sushi pajamas?"

"Because…I woke up in them?" Bella answered warily, suddenly scared of the petite brown-haired girl in front of her. "And they're actually kind of comfortable." she muttered. The doorbell rang just as it seemed Dawn was going to break out in tears and the three girls made their way downstairs into the living room, happy for the distraction; they stopped at the front door, almost frightened by what might happen if they opened it.

"FAITH HOPE LEHANE! If you don't open that door right now, I'll go get Wesley and have him help me break it down!" Willow shouted from the other side of the door. Faith froze in shock and Dawn sighed and pushed her out of the way, opening the door and throwing herself into the Wicca's arms.

"Willow what's going on?" she asked, "Why am I suddenly the youngest of three instead of two, and how come you have black streaks in your hair? And why does Xander look kind of buff?" Dawn asked, looking around the red-head to glance at her Xander-shaped friend.

"Dawnie did you forget? Xander's been on the swim team since seventh grade." Willow froze. "You can swim?" She shot at Xander.

"No. Remember the last swim team I was on in Sunnydale?"

"STOP IT!" Bella shrieked suddenly. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" They all stood and stared for a moment at the stranger before Willow started babbling.

"This isn't my fault, I swear," she began as Xander propelled her through the front door and shut it behind him, "I don't have enough magic to open portals. And the spell was only supposed to bring Buffy back, because Sunnydale needed her and you were in jail, and now we're all stuck here, and I don't know who she is or how she got here, but I suddenly have all these memories of crushing on Xander when we were little, then dating a guy named Steve in eighth grade and getting pissed at you for killing him when it turned out he was a demon trying to kill the senior class, and you guys not even living here until seventh grade and-" Faith slapped a hand over Willow's mouth, cutting off her tirade.

"You were trying to bring B back from the _dead_?!" she hissed. "What's next, you gonna try to end the world too Red?"

"We thought she might have ended up in hell," Xander interjected, his voice half-a-whimper.

"Keyword boy-toy, _might_; I'm betting none of ya thought to check, you just thought, 'Buffy's in hell and she'll thank us later'!"

"My sentiments exactly," a voice commented. Everybody in the room whirled around to find the blonde in question standing, floating rather, transparently behind them.

"Buffy?" Dawn whispered.

"Hi Dawnie, sorry I couldn't come sooner, but I had a lot of healing to do before the PTB's would let me even consider a visit. And then you two dragged Anya and Tara along to try and bring me back to life," Buffy shot at Xander and Willow.  
"But I'm in heaven now and I'm happy. I saved the world; I saved my sister."

"But what happened to us? Why are we here?" Willow asked.

"Well, Osiris got kind of peeved at you for trying to call me back from my dead-ness and he was going to kill the four of you, but the PTB's stepped in and intervened, instead planning on throwing the four of you into an alternate dimension with a new Scooby in the mix, guess they didn't count on Dawn and Faith being there when they opened the portal."

"So why are you here Buff?" Xander asked.

"The Power's sent me down to help explain everything to the newbie." She turned to Bella. "My name was Buffy Summers. I used to be the vampire slayer. I died once, but Xander saved me using CPR, and so another Slayer was called and then there were two. When that slayer died, Faith was called. I died saving Dawn from a hell goddess four months ago. As I just explained, the Powers That Be, brought you here to start a new life."

"But why me?" Bella asked softly.

"Because your destiny changed; you weren't supposed to meet them. You were supposed to stay with your mother and grow old and be happy. But you had to be stubborn. So the Power's decided to give you another chance." Buffy looked at Dawn. "It's time for me to go," she whispered. "Be happy Dawnie, for me?" and then Buffy disappeared in a small flash of light and Dawn let the tears fall, turning and wrapping her arms around Faith's waist purely out of some odd instinct she obviously now had.

"So who is 'them'?" Willow asked interestedly.

"The Cullens. A family of vampires who drink only animal blood and travel around so as not to draw suspicion; I moved to Forks to stay with my dad after my mom got remarried, and that was where they were currently living. I fell in love with one." Bella explained. Why did she feel such a bond with these strange people?

"Okay, now for the good news!" Xander called, ruining the moment completely. "My parents aren't drunks here! Apparently, I'm adopted." There was silence for a moment before everyone burst out laughing, even Bella. Willow looked at the clock on the wall and shrieked.

"We're going to be late for school!"

"But Willow, we've already been through hell-I mean High School once, do we really have to do it again?" Xander whined.

"Yes, but technically Dawn is thirteen, Bella is fourteen, and you, Faith and I are all fifteen, which means legally we have to go to school. Besides, we've done it before, it should be easy."

"In case you forgot Wills, I nearly failed."

"Yea Red and I'm kind of a drop-out." Faith pointed out.

"That just proves my point; now the three of you get your patooties upstairs now and get dressed before I drag you to school in your jammies!" Bella blanched and rushed upstairs as Faith and Dawn glanced down to inspect their clothes.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Faith exclaimed. She was wearing a pair of hot pink sweatpants and a pale pink camisole that read, 'Who's the Queen now, Bitch?'

"What did I do to deserve this?" Dawn moaned as she led the way upstairs in her neon green pajamas. As soon as they were out of sight, Xander opened his mouth.

"I think Bella looked cute in her Sushi Pajamas." Willow whapped him in the back of the head.

"We need to find a way to get everyone home." She stated.

"But Willow, you heard Buffy. This is the PTB's latest shtick, we're their entertainment remember? Besides, we're only in high school; I don't think you have enough magic to go up against the PTB's. I don't think anyone does."

"So we're just supposed to stay here and let our memories fade?! " Willow shrieked. "I can feel them leaving Xander! I don't want to forget about Oz and Giles and Sunnydale and Jesse and The Master and Angel and Spike and Anya and…and Tara," she finished quietly.

"Even if you do forget Tara, Wil, I'm sure you'll find someone better." he promised, wincing as something hit the floor upstairs.

"BELLA!" they heard Dawn shout, "Did you knock over your bedside table, _again_? That's the fourth time this week!"

"Besides," he remarked dryly. "We've got the new, obviously accident-prone Scooby to worry about.


	3. Changes

**Disclaimer: THE SONG IS THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF Ar Hyd y Nos BY John Ceiriog Hughes. I DO NOT OWN IT!**  
**In this chapter we learn several things. 1) Faith can draw. 2) Willow can sing. 3) Xander can swim. 4) Bella can stick up for herself. and 5) Dawn is the first to forget something. ENJOY! And thanks to my wonderful friend/beta: AvonGoddess**

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Faith finished her doodle of a vampire in the top left corner on the back of her test sheet and studied it a moment before darkening the eyes a bit and smiling triumphantly. She had been absolutely terrified at first to go to school, especially since it was a Friday when she checked the calendar hanging in the unfamiliar kitchen of the house she apparently now shared with her two new sisters, and in her experience, Friday was really teacher code for 'Test Day.'

But when she had stepped into Mr. Sanders History class, she had been surprised to find that she actually felt at home amongst the maps and posters and had finished the test relatively quickly and had found it quite easy. She began sketching out an intricate cross design in the top right corner when the timer rang at the front of the classroom, signaling the end of their test time and making half of the class groan.

"Ms. Johnson! You do know that timer means pencils down, do you not?" Mr. Sanders growled.

"Y-yes sir!" a brunette in the back of the class squeaked, her pencil dropping to the floor.

"Ms. Lehane, please collect all of the test papers." Faith nearly jumped in surprise when he called her name, but quickly regained her composure and stood, making her way around the classroom to pick up all of the papers from the her fellow classmates and dropping them on the teacher's desk before returning to her seat. For some strange reason she had the urge to flip her hair as she walked by the desk of the boy who sat two seats in front of her.

Faith's eyes widened in horror at the thoughts running through her head as she sat down, praying to the Powers That Be that she wasn't a complete bimbo in this dimension; if she found out that she was, she was going to have to find a way to kick their sorry 'almighty' asses!

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Willow hummed along to the song a little as the teacher played it on the piano; no way in heck was anyone getting her to sing. Not now. Not ever. The only person she had ever sung to had been Tara, and that was only when the two of them were pretty much asleep anyway. Tara… she missed her girlfriend so much, with her blue eyes and blonde hair and gorgeous smile and-why was everybody looking at her?

"Willow it's your solo," Mrs. Erickson prompted. "Have you been practicing?"

"I-I-Solo? Me? Singing? Alone? I couldn't! Really, someone else should take it!" Willow sputtered, wishing she could sink into the Earth and disappear.

"Oh Willow, you requested this solo remember? Now come on, stop being so shy."

"Bu-but I-I-I can't sing! I can't hold a note to save my life! I couldn't hold a tune in a proverbial bucket! I-I'm tuneless girl!" she insisted.

"Willow Rosendale, you will get down here and sing this solo immediately!"

"Y-yes Mrs. Erickson," Willow sighed in defeat and made her way to stand next to the piano. Mrs. Erickson began to play and soon after Willow found herself singing, and found that she could hold a note after all!

_"While the moon her watch is keeping _  
_All through the night _  
_While the weary world is sleeping _  
_All through the night _  
_O'er thy spirit gently stealing _  
_Visions of delight revealing _  
_Breathes a pure and holy feeling _  
_All through the night"_

There was silence and Willow looked up to find Mrs. Erickson wiping her eyes.

"That was beautiful Willow; please return to your seat. Marissa, next solo!" Another girl stepped down and Willow returned to her seat. Maybe this wouldn't be such a horrible day after all.

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The one thing Xander was grateful for that day was that he and Bella had gym the same period, and that freshmen and sophomores had gym together, which meant he got to see Bella in her gym uniform. Wait a second, where did that thought come from?! He'd only known this girl a total of two hours!

"HARELL!" Xander spun around.

"Yes Coach!" He answered on instinct; what instinct he had no idea, but he listened to it anyway.

"Pay attention or I'll give you detention for a week!" Coach Turner growled.

"Yes Coach."

"And miss one more day of practice and I'll give you detention for the rest of the month!"

"Yes Coach."

"You made a commitment to this swim team and I don't care how many damn family emergencies you have, I expect you to live up to it! Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Coach."

"Good! Now I want a dozen laps around the track from you before the period is up!"

"Yes Coach." Xander sighed and took off around the track, curse those damn PTB's for making him buff and semi-popular!

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Bella yelped and ducked out of the way as the volleyball went flying straight at her; good to know some things would never change.

"LEHANE!" A female voice shrilled. Bella winced and turned to face her gym teacher. "You're supposed to hit the ball not jump around it like a frightened monkey!"

"Yes ma'am," Bella mumbled.

"Coach Curtis, why do we even let Bella play? We all know that when Bella plays, one of us is going to get hurt," A snooty voice commented. Bella turned to see that it was a dark-haired girl who had spoken, her nails perfectly filed and her hair perfectly done and something in her new memories recognized her as Clarissa Belmonte and told her that they were mortal enemies…or something like that.

"Thanks for your concern,_ Lissa_, but I think I'll be just fine. It's just a ball," Bella shot back. "But what about you? Wouldn't want you to go home crying over yet another broken nail tragedy, would we now?" Bella was absolutely shocked at herself; where had that come from? She wasn't a mean person, and she certainly wasn't the type of person who would rise to the bait other people threw at her, so what was it about this girl that made her so furious?

"That's enough, Belmonte, Lehane, get back in the game now or you both get an F today!"

"Yes Coach Curtis," the two girls chorused. Clarissa shot Bella an evil look that clearly said trouble was coming and she mentally slapped herself; why did she have to go and make everything worse? She was going to have to seriously watch her back for the rest of the day…

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Dawn cursed everyone as she put the final touches on her French essay before putting her pencil down and glaring at the board. She cursed Buffy for dying, cursed Faith for getting thrown in jail and not being around to help, cursed Willow for trying to bring Buffy back to life, cursed Tara for going along with it, cursed Xander for letting Willow talk him and Anya into it, cursed Giles for leaving, cursed Spike for not being around when she needed him most, and cursed the damn Powers That Be for putting her back in middle school!

Mademoiselle Radford noticed that she was done and walked over, picking up her test and scanning it once before nodding and taking it back to her desk with her. Dawn sighed and turned to look at the clock on the wall behind her; fifteen minutes until class was over and then it was lunch time, which basically meant she was going to sneak off campus to go visit Faith, Bella, Willow and Xander.

Her old self shuddered at the thought of being in love with Xander again, but her new self was currently planning all of the ways she could tempt him away from the others and get him to kiss her. Dawn shook her head vehemently; no, no, no, no, no! She was not having those kinds of thoughts about her Xander-shaped friend! Anya would curse her into oblivion if she found out, vengeance demon or not!

Dawn froze in her thoughts. Anya…where had she heard that name before? Why did it sound so familiar? It was on the tip of her tongue but she just couldn't figure it out! She sighed and sat back in her chair to wait out the last five minutes of class. Oh well, it was a pretty name anyway, no matter where she had heard it from; maybe it would make a cute baby name one day! Dawn giggled a little inside at the thought of having Xander's baby, then returned to her senses and almost threw up a little bit in her mouth.

She was seriously contemplating murdering those meddling Powers!

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Dawn hopped into the back seat of Faith's Coupe, in-between Willow and the window; she had no idea how Faith had a license when she was only a sophomore, but decided it was best not to think on it too hard. About halfway back to the house, Willow opened her mouth.

"So anybody else have a good day at school?" Four faces immediately turned to glare at her and Willow shrunk down in her seat, remaining quiet for the rest of the car ride home.

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**Reviews are always more than welcome!**


	4. On Forgetting

**A/N- I realize this chapter is short, but the next one is going to be longer, and I just really wanted to write a bit of fluff to help Bella bond a bit more with her new friends and family, so I hope you all enjoy, and reviews are always welcome!**

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Dawn blanched as she stared at her bedroom from the doorway; in all of the rush earlier that morning she hadn't really gotten a good look, but now that she was looking at it, she really couldn't believe it. It was the size of her whole room plus half, the walls were a beautiful deep blue with green trim, and it looked like someone was in the middle of drawing a mural that covered one and a half of the walls so far.

A double bed was in the middle of the wall to her left, a nightstand on each side with a closet in the far right corner and two entire shelves of shoes that stretched between the closet and the window; there was a small writing desk on the wall opposite her bed, with two bookends filled in-between with textbooks and a couple notebooks, a tiny computer desk right next to it with a hook for her backpack. The one thing Dawn noticed was that someone had left a sticky note on her desk. She dropped her backpack on the floor, still speechless as she shrugged off her jean jacket and picked up the note, noticing immediately that it was written in Faith's handwriting.

_Hey Dawnie,_

_Remember that promise I made you last school year? Telling you what you'd get if you finished out Middle School? Well B and Wil have convinced me that you shouldn't have to wait._

_Fay._

Dawn wracked her new memories and let out a shriek of happiness when she found what she was looking for.

"OMIGOD FAY! Are you serious?!" She screamed, running out of her room and into Faith's, where the older brunette was sitting cross-legged on her bed across from Bella.

"'Bout what lil' sis?" Dawn handed her the note, practically jumping with excitement. Faith raised an eyebrow at Dawn as she handed the note to Bella.

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed. "Willow has it." she stated.

"And you two know this how?" Faith asked. The two girls turned to look at her.

"I…have no idea." Dawn stated. "It must be in our new memories."

"Faith, Dawn, Bella!" Willow called from downstairs. "Get down here please!" Faith rolled her eyes and she and Bella climbed off of the bed and followed Dawn downstairs.

"What's going on Wil?" Dawn asked.

"Xander just had an idea about how to get us home, and it was actually pretty good."

"Well spit it out boy-toy, what is it?" Faith asked, turning to face Xander.

"Well, remember how when Anya was a vengeance demon she could transport people to and from as well as travel to alternate dimensions? What if we summoned D'Hoffryn or Halfrek or some other kind of demon that grants wishes?"

"That sounds cool and all but I have one question," Dawn piped up. "Who's Anya? And what's a vengeance demon?" They all stared at her in disbelief. "What? What did I say?"

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"You don't remember anything about Anya?" Xander asked; Dawn shook her head. "Anyanka?"

"Nope."

"Aud?"

"Zero."

"Halfrek?"

"Zip."

"D'Hoffryn?"

"Nada."

"What about Olaf the Troll?" Faith butt in.

"Funnily enough, yes," Dawn answered. "You really liked that hammer."

"It was awesome," Faith agreed.

"Moving on," Xander interrupted, "why doesn't Dawn remember Anya?"

"Well, we could ask Buffy but I don't know if she would actually be willing to talk to us," Willow mused sadly, "we could always just try summoning Anya or Halfrek or D'Hoffryn, although in this universe we might not have ever met them, and therefore they probably wouldn't even know us."

"So what do you want to do Willow?" Xander asked.

"I don't think we should do anything." Everyone turned to look at Bella.

"Why is that Bells?" Willow asked.

"Well that girl Buffy said that some kind of Powers or something were the ones who put us here, and judging from the way it was done, aren't they really powerful?" Everyone nodded. "How do you expect to change something that they've done then? I mean, if it was meant to be, let it be." There was silence for a moment.

"Wow," Faith said finally, "Bella's kind of smart." Bella blushed.

"I'm not smart, I'm just thinking of some of the moments in my old life that I would absolutely love to forget," Bella protested.

"Like what?" Dawn asked.

"I was hunted by a vampire last year and his mate was still looking for me," Bella told them, "because Edward and his family killed the one who had been hunting me and stopped him from killing me, or worse."

"What's worse than dying?"

"Being turned," Faith answered quietly for Bella. "Do you know who they were?"

"No, I'm already starting to forget them, I can only barely remember that it happened at all," Bella explained; then she smiled. "So if these powers of yours did something like this, they must have had a good reason. Maybe forgetting is just supposed to help us move on."

"But what if I don't want to forget?" Willow asked. Her hair was covering her face and she was shaking. "The people they're making us forget; they weren't just our friends, they were our family. We were the Scoobies and now they're gone!"

"Willow," Dawn started, "you're not that powerful anymore; you can't fight the PTB's. Let's just start over, let's try again!" Willow looked up at her. "Please? For me? For Buffy?" There was silence for a moment before Willow nodded and Dawn threw herself at the older girl, wrapping her arms around her waist. They all stood there before Dawn pulled away and held out the note. "Now, about my present…"


	5. Answering Questions

**So...Chapter Four, in which Bella finally learns what a real vampire is, and we finally learn why Willow suddenly has black streaks in her hair. Is she evil? Is it hair dye? Keep reading and find out!**

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Bella sighed as she walked down the street on her way home; it was almost sunset. Faith was going to kill her if she didn't get home before the sun went down. She still didn't understand what a 'slayer' did exactly. According to Edward, stakes and crosses and holy water didn't work on vampires, sunlight didn't make them turn to dust, and fire only worked when you tore them to pieces, which could only be done by others of their kind; so what could Faith possibly do to them?

She shook her head to get rid of any remaining thoughts of Edward; it had been nearly two months since she had ended up in Cleveland, Ohio with Faith Dawn, Willow, and Xander, and Dawn had already forgotten half of the people they had known in the town, Sunnydale they called it, where they had lived before. Willow had forgotten someone that now, only Xander remembered; Xander remembered more than Willow and Dawn, and Faith had forgotten most of her life before Sunnydale. Bella herself was only now beginning to forget the Cullens; she knew that there were six, or at least she had thought there were; but she could only remember Edward and Alice clearly. The rest were just fuzzy images lingering in the back of her mind.

There was a noise to her left and Bella looked up to realize that the sun had set and she was passing a graveyard. She shuddered; graveyards had always creeped her out. There was a noise again and someone shouted. Bella bit her lip before sighing in defeat as her curiosity got the better of her and she made her way through the graveyard to find the source of the sound, finding herself at the entrance of a small crypt. She left her bag next to the entrance and slipped inside to find Faith fighting against two men and a woman, their faces ugly and distorted.

"You call those fangs? My dog has bigger canines than that!" Faith shouted, kicking one of her opponents in the chest as she produced what looked like a sharp stick of wood from the sleeve of her leather jacket and hitting the woman, who had been coming up behind her, in the chest with it; the woman screamed as she turned to dust. Bella watched as her sister quickly turned on the two men and made them little piles of dust on the crypt floor as well.

"What was that?" Bella squeaked. Faith whipped around and her face paled.

"Bella? What are you doing here?!"

"I was on my way home and heard a noise and we…don't own a dog," she pointed out. "What were those things?"

"Vampires," Faith told her with a sigh, "and I was being witty, so shut up."

"Those were not vampires!" Bella cried. "Stakes don't work on vampires, and they don't live in crypts! And they most definitely do not look like that!"

"What vampires do you know?" Faith asked. "Honestly, you're supposed to be my sister and you don't even know what a vampire looks like?"

"But Edward told me that crosses, stakes, and holy water don't work, and all that stuff about needing an invitation into a home and being burned by sunlight was all a myth."

"And Edward was a vampire?" Bella nodded. "Exactly what did he tell you?" Faith asked, leading the way out of the crypt and picking up Bella's schoolbag.

"Well, vampires don't need to sleep, at all. Their skin is hard as marble and cold to the touch. Crosses and holy water don't affect them, that's a myth. Stakes don't work because they're skin is too hard to penetrate. The only way to kill them is to tear them apart and set the pieces on fire. Also, sunlight doesn't hurt them."

"But…?"

"What?"

"I sense a 'but' there."

"Edward stood out in the sun for me once. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. His skin sparkled like a thousand diamonds." Faith froze, stared at Bella and blinked once before she doubled over laughing.

"What kind of a wuss vampire was this guy?" She asked through her laughter. Bella stood there; waiting out Faith's laughter before the older girl stood up and began leading her out of the graveyard and back home. "Okay B, you're in our world now, which means vampires don't sparkle and sunlight burns them like bacon. So here's what you need to know; after dark, you stay indoors and don't give people direct invitations into the house. If you do get caught outside after dark, there are three things you should have with you at all times, so I suggest keeping at least one of them in your bag. A stake to the heart will kill any vampire, a cross will keep any vampire at bay, and holy water will melt their skin. Understand?"

"Are you sure?"

"I've been slaying vampires for two years now Bella, I think I know how to kill one by now." Faith teased, opening the front door and following Bella into the house, locking the door behind her.

"So what is a slayer? You never really explained it."

"The slayer is a girl," Faith sighed, "one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires. Or so I've been told; I still think it's a load of BS, a stupid story used to get girls to give up their lives for a stupid cause that they shouldn't have anything to do with. We're teenagers; we shouldn't be fighting a war, we should be living our lives." she remarked bitterly.

"It's horrible. You're only a teenager and you're expected to sacrifice your life and childhood to protect and possibly die for people you hardly know," Bella remarked. "It's worse than being a slave."

"Wrong B," Faith corrected, "being a slayer _is_ being a slave, to the Watcher's Council."

"So who was your watcher when you lived…wherever it was you lived before?"

"I-I can't remember their names anymore," Faith realized suddenly. "Not that I mind; one of them was a complete bitch, one of them was really Buffy's watcher who just wanted to give me a chance, and one of them I tortured during one of my more evil moments, but the last one, she was practically like family to me. Kind of like the mother I wish I'd had."

"I'm sorry. It feels strange that I've hardly forgotten anything."

"Or so you think."

"What do you mean?"

"How can you remember that you're forgetting if you never knew it to begin with is what she means," Willow answered, sticking her head out of the kitchen. "Dawnie's all set up with her new laptop upstairs and yes, I made sure she finished her homework and ate dinner before giving it to her."

"Thanks Wil, how's the chemistry homework coming?" Faith asked as Bella took a seat at the kitchen counter and grabbed a shiny red apple.

"Finished, and no you may not copy it."

"Willow!" Faith pouted, "Please! I'm not going to have time to do the homework and still get up in time for school in the morning. And you wouldn't want me to be late or, heaven forbid, miss school _altogether_!"

"Nice try Faith, but it won't work. I have to get home in time for circle, or mom will ground me again."

"Willow, you never told us why you have black streaks in your hair," Bella pointed out. "Why is that?"

"Spell gone wrong," Willow explained with a wince. "Mom was trying to teach me how to change the color of my cat's fur and it backfired. Now I have permanent black streaks. Although according to you Faith, it makes me look hot."

"It totally does Wil, it totally does, now can I copy the homework?"

"No." Willow stated. Faith pouted and began begging, following Willow to the door, making Bella laughed; she had to admit, she loved her life.


	6. The Life of Xander Harell

"Xander! You're going to be late for school!"

"And that would be a bad thing how?" Xander muttered, climbing out of bed and looking through his drawer for a suitable shirt; he couldn't believe that there was nothing even remotely Hawaiian in any of his drawers, not that he would want to wear Hawaiian shirts, he wasn't tacky. He pulled on a clean green shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans as the doorbell rang downstairs.

"Xander, Willow's here!"

"I'll be right down," he shouted, grabbing his old grey schoolbag and a pair of sneakers before running downstairs. His mom raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of the shoes in his hand.

"Xander LaVelle, you are not walking out of this house without putting those shoes on your feet." She remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. Xander sighed, sitting down on the bottom step and putting on his sneakers.

"Morning Xander," Willow greeted from the doorway. "You left your math homework at my house last night. It's in the car," she told him.

"Thanks Wil. What would I do without you?"

"Fail high school?"

"Probably."

"Mom! Where are my Mary Janes?" a voice called downstairs.

"Which ones Sarina?"

"The dark blue ones!"

"I don't know sweetie, where did you leave them?"

"If I knew that I wouldn't have to ask!" she shrieked. Xander winced and stood up, giving his mom a hug.

"Come on Willow; let's get out of here before the tantrum starts." Willow laughed and followed him out of the house.

"So how do you like having a little sister?"

"Are you kidding me? She's a little monster, makes me wish I could strangle those damn Powers."

"But other than that, you like your family?" Willow asked as they got in the car.

"Janet and Theodore are great, and the fact that they want to adopt me instead of just foster me is amazing. I actually have a life here. I mean, I know we've only been here five months, but it already feels like forever."

"Well, yeah," Willow agreed. "As far as I can remember, Janet and Theodore Harell have been your foster parents since the summer after sixth grade, when Faith, Bella, and Dawn moved here."

"They treat me like family, not a meal ticket; I think I'd enjoy really being part of the family legally."

"Plus, in this universe you're semi-smart." Dawn chimed in. "I remember your grades before, they were barely average!"

"Thank you for the support Dawnie," Xander drawled. "Faith, not that I doubt your capabilities any, but aren't you too young to have a license?"

"Did I ever say I had a license?" Faith replied, making a sharp left.

"Then why are you driving?!"

"Because we need to get to school and we all wake up far too late to bother with trying to catch the bus; that a good enough reason for you pretty boy?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"Tell me as many times as you like, doesn't mean I'm gonna listen," she replied, handing Dawn her lunch as the younger girl got out of the car. Xander sighed; sometimes he wondered why he even bothered.

* * *

"So Bella," Xander started, catching up to the brunette running on the track. "How's life at home?"

"Fine," she replied shortly, "trying to run here."

"And?"

"Hard to run and talk at the same time."

"HARELL!" Xander winced, turning around to find Coach Turner standing right behind him. "If you're late to practice tomorrow-"

"I know Coach, I'm off the team."

"No, you're not."

"I'm not?" he asked suspiciously.

"If you're late to practice, you're going to stay after school for a month cleaning the chalkboards with your tongue!"

"Talk about corporal punishment," Xander muttered, shuddering.

"Get fresh with me, and-" The rest of his words were drowned out by the bell signaling the end of the period and Xander took off towards the locker room.

"What do you know? I really was saved by the bell."

* * *

The rest of the morning up until lunch passed slowly for Xander as he made his way through his first four classes of the day.

"Dawn sneaking over again today?" he asked, taking a seat on the bench next to Faith and pulled out his lunch.

"She nearly got caught yesterday so I told her not to, but since when does she ever listen to me?" Faith replied, waving to Bella as she sat down. "Where's Willow?"

"In the library, where else?" Bella stated taking a bite of her shiny red apple.

"You staying after school or catching a ride with us Xander?" Faith asked.

"Neither, Janet and Theodore are working today so I have to walk Sarina home from school."

"Rough."

"Not really; I bring her some candy and she's the perfect little angel, at least until the babysitter arrives and I have to leave."

"So who's babysitting tonight?"

"I am," Bella informed them.

"I thought you said that after last time you would never watch my sister again?" Xander asked, puzzled.

"Yes, well, Sarina and I have come to an agreement," she responded calmly. Xander opened his mouth to ask 'what agreement?' but then Willow came running over, ranting about time-space paradoxes and spells and ingredients and going back to someone named 'Buffy' in a place called 'Sunnydale'-

"Wait a minute, rewind, what?" he interrupted; Willow took a deep breath before speaking again.

"I think I found a way to return us to our old lives," she told them excitedly.

"What old lives Wil?"

"What do you mean Xander? Don't you remember Buffy? The Vampire Slayer?"

"Willow, Faith is the Slayer, remember? And what kind of a name is 'Buffy'?"

"Xander, don't you remember Jesse? Ms. Calendar? Giles?"

"Willow, I really think you should cut back on the caffeine, it's giving you strange dreams again." The bell rang and the four teens stood, throwing out the remains of their lunch. "I don't want to be late for geometry again. We still meeting at your house later to study for the English test?" Xander asked.

"Y-yeah," Willow confirmed shakily.

"English test?" Faith asked.

"Cool, I'll bring snacks!" He called, walking off in the direction of his next class.

"What English test?!" Xander chuckled under his breath; typical Faith, she had probably fallen asleep in class again. But Willow's dreams were a bit concerning, he'd have to keep a close eye on her caffeine intake from now on. As long as it didn't interfere with the swim team. Just thinking about Coach's threat made him shudder; he would never look at a chalkboard the same again…

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**A/N - OMG! Bella is turning into a mini-Cordelia? Faith is oblivious to her surroundings? XANDER HAS A SISTER?! WHAT HAVE THE POWERS(me) DONE?**


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